Matt Lauer's interview of Jimmy Buffett this morning on the Today Show provides a nice vignette for the classroom on the § 183 hobby loss rules. At around the 1:50 mark of this clip, Buffett explains how he sailed around the Caribbean for 5 years as research for his new book, A Salty Piece of Land:

Lauer: It's a scam. Because you call it research, you get to deduct all these trips.

Buffett: It's a job.

(Thanks to Bill Kulsrud (Indiana-Indianapolis, Business School) for the tip.)